Spaying those plastic things with armourall would get the plastic a bit flexable , if your going to risk flying them , or in case you drop 'em .

Hey, I know ships are spoken of as females, but it isn't necessary to sterilize planes or ships; they aren't going to have a litter of kittens / pups.

But seriously, I wonder if anyone ever tried dope plasticizer, whatever the stuff is that Brodak sells to keep old dope finishes from becoming brittle, to treat any old plastic models that are now so brittle?

I just picked up a very tired Testors P-38 from EBay very inexpensively. Some of the black paint is gone and the fuel tank in the left engine nacelle appears to be melted from the inside (I suspect someone in the past tried gasoline or something else that the plastic did not like for fuel). The left wing is also cracked at the center pod (never had this happen in years of flying my old one).

All of this being said, my goal is to get this one flying again! I miss flying these, although they were not great performers, they did fly well and very reliably (just not aerobatic).